Federal TVET Institute

Faculty of Civil Technology

Department of Architectural Design Technology.

Research Proposal

Analysis on Impact of design on implementation

Prof Industrialized Building System (IBS) in Ethiopia.
(In case of Addis Ababa and around Housing projects)

By:- Alemu Merga - Researcher

Asmamaw Ayele
Co-Researchers
Birhanu Tesfay
Feb 2021
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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Contents.
1. Background .............................................................................................................................................. 2
2. Statement of the problem. ........................................................................................................................ 4
3. Research question..................................................................................................................................... 4
4. Significance of the study ........................................................................................................................... 5
5. Research Objective ................................................................................................................................... 5
6. Methodology ............................................................................................................................................. 5
7. Procedure .................................................................................................................................................. 9
8. Budget ..................................................................................................................................................... 10

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 1. Background
The demand for housing grows every day, as people migrate to cities and create new households.
The global urban population, fueled by both inward migration to cities and the natural population
increase of existing urban residents, has increased more than five-fold since 1950, from 746
million to 3.9 billion in 2014. This growth has greatly elevated the demand for adequate, safe, and
accessible housing. (UN-Habitat, 2014c).

Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa. It is growing rapidly; the annual growth
rate is 2.6 per cent, equating to two million births per year. It is also expected to become more than
double in the coming years, i.e.; by 2050 it will reach 170.2 million population. (UN-Habitat.
2010).

In the country, urbanization is mainly accelerated by rural -urban migration, which is starting to
impose high pressure on holding the capacity of cities. This acceleration of urbanization needs to
go hand in with the growth of various services, which are essential for the wellbeing of the society;
according to the studies, the cities in the country lack the basic needs and facilities that are vital
for life, one of the major problem is facing the cities is a lack of appropriate housing.

Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia as well as the capital seat of Africa, characterized by
high population , poor living standard, high-level of unemployment and housing deficit, about 70%
population in the city live in substandard housing and poverty continued in the worst condition.
(UN -Habitat, 2014).

Addis Ababa city government has been trying to reduce the house backlogs under the Grand
Housing Program (GHP), which is condominium houses provide to the city’s low and middle-
income groups. Thus, GHP targeted to construct 300,000 low-cost houses by constructing 50,000
housing units annually (Shimeles, 2013).

Since 2005, the government has been trying to implement a low and middle-income housing
programme; which called Integrated Housing Development Program (IHDP) in different part of
Ethiopian cities including Addis Ababa. The aim of the program was; to create jobs, to promote
the development of micro - and small- enterprises, to enhance the capacity of the construction
sector, and to promote homeownership for low-income households.

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The construction technology of Integrated Housing Development Programme (IHDP) is different
from the conventional one. The slab is constructed with prefabricated beam and slab blocks, which
was mainly aimed for minimizing the carpenter work for concreting, and low cost walling
materials such as Agrostone are applied (Tameru, 2010).

Although construction technologies used for the program are based on a concrete pillar and slab
system and also Agro stone board is applied in terms of minimizing the carpenter work concrete,
reinforcement bar and others but still now huge amount of cement and gravel are used on the
construction site and hollow concrete blocks are applied to fill the structures. Therefore, the cost
of housing units, time manageable and quality of those houses is not far from problem

This call for any strategy to address this challenge by taking into account the particular constraints
linked to developing societies. In fact, the need for alternative construction technology (ACT) is
the best solution to address these and other related challenges and build sustainable housing for
the majority of the population (USAID, 2009).

To conclude, this research study will concerns with investigation on implementation of

industrialized building system, which suits the current construction conditions and strategies in
Ethiopia in general, and in case of Addis Ababa housing projects in particular.

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2. Statement of the problem.

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Housing is one of the greatest challenges
facing the country. According to studies, the number of population living in substandard housing
conditions is expanding very rapidly. Nationally, 80% of Ethiopian population live in substandard
housing that needs either complete replacement or significance upgrading, or expected that the
number of peoples living in such environment will increase in coming years. ( Guesh Dejen, 2017)

The leading type of housing construction system in the country, which is conventional system,
could not be compatible with increasing rate of housing demand and this created a negative impact
on housing construction such as long time construction, material wastage, rising cost, high-low
quality and so on.

Many developing countries have suggested policies to increase mechanization or prefabrication in

their respective construction industries to improve on cost, quality, and productivity. In our
country, a considerable research have been directed toward implementation of alternative building
materials and new construction technologies including IBS, and the government has tried to
implement integrated housing development program (IHDP) which has promised to solve and
improve the current construction method in the country specially applied on a low-income housing
projects.

However, it is clear that neither the public nor the private sector alone could not address the
growing challenges of providing adequate and affordable housing and services to predominantly
poor urban populations, partly due to lack of awareness and coordination among the relevant
parties in construction industry. (Dawud, 2012).

Therefore, there is a dire need of standard design to overcome the lack of coordination between
parties in construction industry, in order to achieve the full benefits of implementing Industrialized
Building System (IBS) on housing construction projects in Ethiopia, taking the case of Addis
Ababa housing projects in particular.

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3. Research question
The main research questions are-
1. How do contractors, consultants, and local authorities practice on housing construction and
strategies for low and middle-income households?
2. How can the performance of current housing construction be expressed in terms of cost,
speed, and quality?
3. What are the factors affecting the design of housing projects in terms of form, material and
technology?
4. What are the factors affecting architectural design of industrialized building system for
housing construction?
5. How can appropriate industrialized building system be properly designed for housing
construction in study area?

4. Significance of the study

The study attempted to investigate the appropriate way of implementing industrialized system for
housing construction, which suits the current housing policies and strategies of the country, so it
has a significance to have more alternative housing technology for the low and middle-income
groups in short period of time without compromising the quality and it also contributes to
environment by minimizing wastages and dusts during construction. Of time without
compromising the quality and it also contributes to environment by minimizing wastages and dusts
during construction.

On the other hand, this study will give information for researchers as a reference and source of
secondary data to conduct further study on implementation of industrialized building system as
alternative construction system that improve performance of building construction in terms of
cost, speed, and quality.

Besides, as the Ethiopian construction industry now is facing the challenges in aspects of time,
cost, quality, and safety, this measure result also expected to develop and promote Industrialized
Building system as an alternative construction method in Ethiopian building industry?

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5 .Research Objectives

5.1 The Main Objective

The main objective of this research will be to design and recommend the appropriate architectural
design standard that suits the implementation of Industrials Building System (IBS) on construction
of housing projects in Ethiopia, in general, and by taking the case of Addis Ababa housing projects
particularly.

5.2 The Specific Objectives

The specific objectives towards the main objective are-

1. To review the experience of countries on implementation of IBS on housing projects.

2. To identify the basic of resources required to implement of IBS on housing projects.

3. To examine the factors affecting implementation of IBS on housing projects in study area.
4. To investigate the factors affecting performance of housing construction in study area in
terms of cost, speed, and quality.
5. To design and suggest the optimum architectural design standard that suits implementation
of IBS on housing project in study area.

6. Methodology
The research will be started with problem identification, which will done through a brief literature
reading. In this study, data will be collected to explore material management practice and factors
contractors facing which affecting construction project performance. The study will implement
more of descriptive, exploratory, and qualitative analysis with little quantitative approach.

The research bases on problem investigation and contributes knowledge mainly for contractors
and for other stakeholders in the construction industry. The research uses concepts as a base line,
and then identifying indicators that converted into variables (Table 3.1)
The study will be done by collecting Primary data from survey of 12 selected construction sites
and secondary data from contractors and other related organizations.

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 To collect the primary data from the selected housing project sites (table 6.1), project sites will
be selected based on the aforementioned factors as follows.

The researcher will select four projects from sub cities inside the capital city and 4 project from
around the city where many projects running under at that time of research. The other key
important issue of this study will be population of this research, which may found under the
geographical area of the study. The case study project sites will be divided according to
geographical area of the study.

Table 6.1 Selected sites for data collection

Project (Convectional)
Sub city 1
Project (IHDP)
Project (Convectional)
Addis Sub city 2
Project (IHDP)
Ababa
Project (Convectional)
sub cities Sub city 3
Project (IHDP)
Project (Convectional)
Sites for Sub city 4
Project (IHDP)
data
Project (Convectional)
collection Liyu zone 1
Project (IHDP)
Cities Project (Convectional)
around Liyu zone 2 Project (IHDP)
Addis Project (Convectional)
Liyu zone 3
Ababa Project (IHDP)
Project (Convectional)
Liyu zone 4 Project (IHDP)

After carrying out the primary and secondary data collection, the results obtained will be discussed
and analysis will made. Finally, the discussion will be concluded and recommendation for future
studies will be provided.
Research questions Variables Indicators instruments

1. How do the building  Persons involved in materials

contractors practice material management
building materials management  Material management tools & techniques
interview
management in the practice  Material purchasing
 Material ordering

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Research questions Variables Indicators instruments

construction  Vendor Selection ( qualifying suppliers)

projects?  Material storage
 Material transportation
2. How do you face  Materials Identification challenges
factors in materials  Procurement challenges
management, which factors in  wastage of materials
Interview
Affect the materials  Transportation & handling challenges
Performance of management  Site related issues
Construction  Store related issues
Projects?  External issues
 Market condition
3. How can the
adverse Factors of
ineffective building
materials
management
Interview
minimized to
improve
Performance of
Construction
Projects?

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7. Procedure
Breakdown of the thesis into its component stages with estimates of the amount of time that will
be required for the work involved in each of the stages as well the approximate timetable for the
completion of each stage, and the project as a whole is provided as follow.

Table 7.1 working break down schedule.

No Work Description

September
February

October
August
March

June
April

July
May
1 Preparation of formats
for recordings and
questionnaires

2
Recruiting of data
collectors
3 Work shop and
Orientation for data
collectors
4
Primary Data Collection
5
Secondary Data
collection
6
Data Analysis and
output calculation
7
Overview and
documentation

• Starting Time February 1/2019

• Ending Time October30/2019

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8. Budget
The amount and breakdown of the budget that we need to have for conducting this proposal is as
shown below. The budget will be expected from Federal TVET Institute.

Numbe
Number r of Unit Price
No Description of person days (Birr) Total(ETB)
Payment for Data
1 collectors for one month 8 30 200 48,000
2 Workshop cost 8 5 200 8,000
Transportation cost to all
2 of the project sites 8 4 250 8,000
Per diem in all selected
3 nearby project sites 4 30 200 48,000
Telephone Card for
4 communication 8 30 25 6,000
Site visit during
Documentation and
5 verification. 2 8 500 8,000
Total cost
126,000
Contingency 5% 6300

Total 132,300

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